Can A Fish Teach Medicine?

Adam Wilson, M1, Class of 2026

How can a fish teach medicine, how does diabetes result from environmental contamination, and how does environmental contamination cause illness through biological and non-biological mechanisms? I recently read “The River Is in Us: Fighting Toxics in a Mohawk Community” by Elizabeth Hoover, which prompted these questions. Hoover describes the impact of contamination and disruption of a Native American community’s environment located at Akwesasne along the St. Lawrence Seaway and bisected by the U.S.-Canada border. Akwesasne is downwind and downriver from a few sites, such as Reynolds Metals and General Motors Central Foundry, recognized as particularly hazardous to human and environmental health by federal and state governments. As a foreword, the Mohawk community at Akwesasne has a long history that this article cannot do justice to. I highly recommend reading Hoover’s book for more information on historical and cultural contexts.

Sculpture by Akwesasne Mohawk artist Natasha Smoke Santiago, depicting a traditional Mohawk woman made from corn husks, insulin bottles, and hypodermic needles. This piece represents the rapid increase of cases of diabetes in the Akwesasne community, with the corn husks symbolizing the traditional foods that the artist wants her relatives to return to in order to regain their health. Photograph by Jessica Sargent. Caption by Elizabeth Hoover.

The Blue Hour

Anonymous

There’s a moment in the morning,

where the nocturnal sky begins to meet the new day,

a reunion of the dark night and the burning crimson sky. 

 

yet even before the celebration of the sun rising,

blue hues beginning to fill the streets,

a subtle and gentle awakening

 

RYR1

Vincent Czerwinski, M3, Class of 2024

RYR1 encodes the ryanodine receptor—a calcium channel found in skeletal muscles which opens in response to sarcolemma depolarization allowing calcium to move from the sarcoplasmic reticulum into the cytoplasm. Those with RYR1 mutations experience central core disease—a congenital myopathy characterized by profound muscular flaccidity. To a young medical student, this phenomenon is ‘interesting,’ a label reserved for the few and far between cases in medicine when a clear cellular mechanism produced intuitive effects phenotypically. However, no amount of intellectualization can prepare medical students for the sight of a four-year-old intubated girl sitting completely still in her room—the only movement coming from her eyes as she tracks the new presence in her space. Students may find this sight so uncanny that they quickly scan the patient’s medications to check for paralytics, already forgetting what they’ve just looked up regarding the effects of RYR1 mutations. 

Students are encouraged to push this unease aside and proceed with their duties, checking with the mother for overnight updates and performing a physical exam. They diligently collect data points for the all-important presentation: one of the many metrics by which students are measured. 

Congratulations, but Being Black Probably Helped

Anonymous

I always knew I wanted to become a physician, but after graduating from the University of Kansas in 2014 with a GPA and MCAT score considered “non-competitive”, I took measures to bolster my resume. With two years of employment, volunteering, shadowing and several medical school interviews under my belt, I ultimately received an envelope from the KU School of Medicine in February 2016. I Skyped my mother and sister so they could witness my life transform in real time. As I peeled back the tri-folded single sheet of paper, my eyes immediately flew to the second sentence: “Unfortunately…” I half-heartedly skimmed the rest of the letter without saying a word. My mother and sister read the shame on my face. I received several more letters just like this one in the following weeks.

and adam fell into a deep sleep

Vinu Rao, M1, Class of 2024

 

I.

from the dust emerged a swirling cyst of layers

tumbling into one another

until the father’s hands enveloped the incomplete.

 

his fingers laced together tight,

a squeeze away from crushing it all

and starting all over again,

he breathed and knew

he had formed

a seal his children cannot help but break.

 

II.

the children of god

burned and crushed and uprooted

flowers and trees of Eden

to find what will maim and disfigure

their naked bodies

Solidarity with Black Lives Matter

A central aspect of Med Intima’s mission is to “celebrate the unique, intimate story of each individual.” More specifically, our editorial board hopes this can be a space for important conversation and discovery. To this end, we are featuring the voices and initiatives taking place at KUMC in pursuit of racial equality. Below, you will find educational resources, as well as short narratives highlighting how individuals and organizations are combatting systemic racism, sharing their stories, and improving medical education for Black students.

We hope that by engaging with this page of Med Intima, medical students will be better equipped to serve their communities as future physicians. Please note that this is far from a comprehensive list, and that we hope the resources and narratives we provide below can act as an introduction to a more open dialogue.

Our entire mission statement can be found at: https://medintima.com/about/

I Tried to Change a Patient

Ben Harstine, M3, Class of 2021

I tried to change a patient,

instead they changed me.

I crashed into a brick wall, you see.

I poked.

I prodded.

I begged.

I implored.

Medicaid Extension- Not Expansion- is the Key to Decreasing Maternal Mortality in the United States

Hebron Kelecha, Class of 2021

The United States is the only industrialized nation with a rising maternal mortality rate. These rates are not equally distributed, with Black and American Indian/Alaska Native women being 2-3 times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than White women. These alarming rates are not limited to those with lower socioeconomic status but transcend both class and educational level. A study in New York City showed Black women with a college education are more likely to experience life-threatening complications during delivery than a White woman who did not complete high school. 

A Philmont Experience

John Price, M4, Class of 2020

The night was young when the radio crackled to life.  We couldn’t believe our luck. They told us the search and rescue missions wouldn’t start for another week, but here we had someone that couldn’t continue their hike. Eager to test our skills, we quickly gathered our supplies into the truck ambulance.  When I look back on all my clinical experiences, the Philmont rotation outside of Cimarron, New Mexico, is certainly my favorite. Established in 1938 as Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp, Philmont Scout Ranch has become a center for high adventure and training.1  For emergency medical technician students and medical students like me, this site offers a unique clinical training in wilderness and prehospital medicine high up in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rockies.1  Below the peaks in basecamp, the Philmont Infirmary is the central hub for this medical four-week sub-internship rotation, and it all began on my first night.

  

55 Word Reflections on COVID-19

This post was adapted from the University of Washington School of Medicine: https://faculty.uwmedicine.org/55-word-stories/. Likewise, the instructions used to solicit these reflections were adapted from Sheetz, A and Fry, M The Stories, JAMA 2000 Vol 283(15)1934.

Sharing our experiences in health care, especially during intense, emotional, or stressful times increases our connectedness and well-being. Hearing stories from others helps us know we are not alone, and strengthens our community. The authenticity, compassion, creativity, and bravery of our colleagues help us access our own emotions, and helps us carry on.